Simone Abbarchi is a Florence-based shirtmaker that has made for my friend Tommaso Capozzoli for a long time. He has always said that they have a very good relationship between price and quality, and he’s right. 

Simone’s made-to-measure shirts start at €120. That’s pretty much the price of the mid-market ready-made shirts readers talk about, from Pink, Hilditch & Key or others. (There is also a less-offered bespoke option which starts at €150.)
  

  
Simone’s are of course all made to specific measurements, so the fit is a lot better, and they have the Italian collar construction that so many readers will like: lightly fused lining, which curls around the collar of a jacket when the neck is undone, and yet sits stiff enough with a tie when the neck is fastened.

(As with other Italians, this stiffness usually requires the use of collar bones; although if you go without collar bones you can also have the ‘sprezzatura’ look of a collar that curls at the corner, perhaps cheekily outside of the jacket lapel.) 
 

  
Simone’s shirts are so reasonable, in part, because they have no handwork. The buttons are sewn on by hand, but that’s it. As I’ve discussed before, I prefer a hand-attached collar and sleeve, but you pay more for that – around €220 in the case of Luca Avitabile.

The made-to-measure offering involves no paper pattern, and you should expect small aspects of the fit to be not as good (as for all MTM, it’s about 2D changes rather than 3D). But this is far less important on shirts than tailoring.

Bespoke, as with other makers, does involve a pattern and also has a fitting on a partially made shirt. MTM shirts are usually finished and sent straight to the customer. 

For anyone that hasn’t looked into this area before, it’s worth reading my breakdown of D’Avino shirts, which presents these three names as three tiers of construction. 
 

  
Another good thing about Simone (or Gianluca Cocchetti, who works with him and is pictured here) is that he already visits both London and New York. He has a good few clients in both locations, and so comes over twice a year to each – February and September for London, and March and October for New York. 

He doesn’t have a minimum for an order, and will usually do two fittings for a first shirt, but can just do one. If you’re unlikely to travel to Florence, perhaps best to just do one, and accept there might be tiny things you’ll change next time. 
 

 
I commissioned a grey brushed-cotton shirt from Simone earlier in the year in Florence, have had the fitting in London, and will write about the final shirt in a couple of weeks. (The cloth selection is also very good, particularly in Florence.)

For anyone just getting into bespoke and MTM shirts, or indeed looking for a much better alternative to the British/American high street, hopefully Simone will be a great choice. 
 

Reading a history of the Arts & Crafts movement recently, I was reminded how much it has in common with our current passion for all things crafted.

The English movement was born out of a desire to return dignity to the work of craftsmen. It reacted against the anonymous mechanisation of the industrial age – although machines were used in production, it was stated that they should not dictate the craft.

We would approve of the movement’s focus on quality, of the time taken with work, and of the resurrection of old crafts. Although it led to a plethora of styles, from the whimsical to the downright plain, they all had this focus on craft and natural materials in common.
 

 
Arts & Crafts was also very nostalgic, as to a extent is our love of classic menswear. It was tied up with ideas of quiet beauty, of simplicity and honesty. Of chivalry or – as we might put it – elegance and gentlemanliness.

There was a joy in the beauty of everyday things. Not the high arts of painting and sculpture, but homewares and the decorative arts. It’s not too much of a stretch to see a connection to the beauty of a bespoke shoe, or a handmade suit, which are subtle and modest beauties compared to the grandness of other fashions.
 

 
Indeed, the philosophy of Arts & Crafts sounds like everything I want today’s sartorial fashion to become. Not flamboyant, not showy, not shallow and fleeting, but rooted in fundamental values of craft and integrity.

I will stop short of hoping it can change the world, which is what CR Ashbee, William Morris and others thought Arts & Crafts could do. But I do believe, with them, that there is power and pleasure in being surrounded by things that are fit for purpose, honest to their materials, and simple in form. To that extent we have a lot in common.  

 
A few Instagram shots from our party at Globe-Trotter last week, where we presented our Permanent Style 2015 book to readers and many of the brands included. 

The party was held on the lovely first floor of the Globe-Trotter shop, which opened on Albemarle Street a year ago. They have both vintage cases and recent collaborations on display there – one of which was the tote bag I have designed for them, more of which later. 

Perhaps the best aspect of the evening was the mix of attendees, which several PS readers commenting how nice it was to chat with the likes of Glasgows Sr and Jr from Cleverley, Lizzie Radcliffe from Levi’s, James Eden at Private White, Anda Rowland from Anderson & Sheppard, Suleman and others from RRL, plus Cordings, Foster’s and so on.

Somehow such conversations are different – more personal and less commercial – in that environment. 

There are still copies left of the book (thanks to those who bought on the night, or had their copy signed) which you can buy here. 
 

  
Last week’s explanation of how I put an outfit together seemed to be popular, so let’s try that again.

This outfit is simpler than last week’s. There are fewer colours, there’s no tie to worry about, the handkerchief is plain. But still, there is a clear process and choices at every stage that are worth exploring.

As before, the process started with one thing I wanted to wear: my Ferdinando Caraceni cashmere jacket. (I’ll do a separate post on that on its own on Friday).

I wanted to wear it quite casually, but its construction means it is too formal for jeans and probably chinos. So in order to be similarly casual, I went for an open-necked shirt.

Next, I wanted the shirt to bring the outfit away from being too smart or corporate. My two favourite ways to do this are with a grey or denim shirt.
 

  
Denim undermines the smart/corporate aspects of tailoring because it takes a common shirt colour – blue – and it gives it an unexpected texture and variety in tone.

A pale grey shirt does something similar with tone, as an alternative to white. A mid-grey shirt (like this one) achieves that immediately by being simply darker than any formal shirt. And its lack of saturation means it works much better than other dark colours.

Trousers. Navy chinos might have been OK, but as I said more formal materials feel better with this jacket. Lightweight flannel therefore, and navy often looks too smart as an odd wool-trouser, so brown, tan or green are the general options. Brown felt better for the subtle, sombre effect achieved elsewhere with the jacket/shirt combination.
 

 
Shoes. Not easy with brown trousers. The options are black or very dark brown – so dark they achieve the same level of contrast.

These, my Gaziano & Girling bespoke Adelaides, aren’t quite that dark, but the contrast in the patination, with a virtually black heel and toe, is sufficient.

Finally, handkerchief. Cream linen, as last week, would have been less formal, but I felt overall the outfit needed a little more contrast, so white (from Anderson & Sheppard) won out.

The shirt is my Simone Abbarchi (again, separate post on that soon) and the trousers are a Vitale Barberis Canonico flannel made up by PA Crowe.
  

  
My final jacket from Ferdinando Caraceni in Milan is superb in many ways, including fit, make and finish. The style, however, is interesting and not necessarily what I expected.

I started this project last year with Nicoletta Caraceni, the daughter of Ferdinando Caraceni who now runs the outfit in Milan. For those that don’t know the lineage, Ferdinando was no relation to the Caraceni that started the famous bespoke tailoring dynasty – Domenico – but was, more importantly, the cutter for Domenico and then Augusto for 29 years.

Nicoletta is not a cutter, but she has a passion for perfection that I would liken to Lorenzo Cifonelli or Joe Morgan. It is this that attracted me to her workshop, and made my decision to commission a jacket from her rather than another of the Milanese tailors.

The fit of the final result is great. Particular attention was paid to the collar where it hugs the neck – as it should be – and then the smooth run of the lapels down the body. Those lapels are slightly wider than average (3.75 inches) but still balanced to the chest width.
 

  
The waist has a nice suppression but it’s not as slim as some. Indeed, at the final fitting it was really only the waist that we needed to change. Nicoletta has a slight bias towards a clean chest and back, rather than one that is closer to the body but risks pulling (particularly with movement).

This balance between a clean finish and close fit is a fine one, and most tailors err one way or the other. Modern tailors I have tried tend towards being as slim as possible, for example (Timothy Everest, Thom Sweeney) while more traditional ones (Henry Poole, Terry Haste) give slightly more room. It’s not consistent a rule though – both Anderson & Sheppard and Richard Anderson ran quite tight.

The sleeve is fairly full, but I like it. I would warn against sleeves that are too slim, both for reasons of comfort and style. A slim sleeve can often look rather mean, and counteract the masculine size of the chest and shoulder.
  

  
There is a slight pull across the shoulder blades which could be loosened up, but given the lightness and softness of the cloth (9.5-ounce cashmere) the back is very clean. Nicoletta ran the shoulder padding a little further down into the blades than is normal to help with this, which few people do.

Another interesting point is that like most other Milanese and Neapolitans, the seams on the jacket are top stitched. So it looks like one side is overlapping the other, rather than both turning together into the seam.

This is almost invisible on this jacket, as it’s grey stitching on a grey cloth, but the effect on the shoulder line is striking. It makes the transition from shoulder into sleeve head very clean – the line is almost uninterrupted, and creates a look that is perhaps halfway between a classic suit shoulder and a Neapolitan ‘shirt shoulder’.
 

 
The overall style, however, is a long way from the casualness of a Neapolitan jacket, and it is this that was the element that surprised me.

When I began the process with Nicoletta, I expected the jacket to feel more informal – perhaps suitable for wearing with chinos or denim. But although the construction is very light, and it has that clean shoulder I referred to, it is too formal for that. Beautiful here with formal trousers, and it would be great in a suit, but nothing approaching the Neapolitan softness.

The cloth, by the way, is from Dugdale’s – the Luxury Flannel and Cashmere Jacketing bunch made by Cerruti, number 6910. I highly recommend it. There aren’t many good lightweight cashmeres out there – the English ones are heavier and the Italians (Loro Piana, Zegna, Caccioppoli) vary hugely from season to season. This is a more solid range you can return to year after year.

Jackets at Ferdinando Caraceni start at €4200 (suits from €5500). Obviously very expensive; but with the current euro exchange rate, cheaper than a lot of Savile Row.
 

  
When friends ask me about looking after their clothes, it always strikes me that their questions come too late. They’ve trodden down the heel cup of a shoe, and want to know if it can be repaired; a suit is looking old and grimy and they want a good dry cleaner.

Looking after clothes is about pre-empting such problems. Small things every day (or as often as you can) make a big difference.

The most obvious area is shoes. So few men brush their shoes at the end of the day, yet it actually saves work if you want them to look good. Brushing removes the little scuffs acquired through daily wear, and means you don’t have to polish them as often.

Using a shoe horn, of course, stops you bending over the leather around the heel cup, which will eventually split and break. Shoe factories all say that is the most common repair they have to make.

Shoe trees retain the shape of the upper; a little cream every month or so stops them drying out. All small things, but with big results. And frankly, if you’re buying any of the shoes we mention here on Permanent Style, which will cost between £500 and £4000, it’s nothing more than intelligent to invest time as well as money.

Brushing suits is a hard one. I often find it a chore, but I try to keep it up because I know the vast majority of dirt is atmospheric – just settling on the shoulders and lapels and in need of a quick brush off at the end of the day.

Shirts are the hardest garment to maintain. Stains will happen, and it’s one reason I’d always recommend spending less on them proportionately than suits or shoes.

But a decent knowledge of stain first-aid is a big help. It normally comes down to blotting until most of the sauce/coffee/beer is soaked up, then wetting it and blotting again. And again. (Different solvents are good for different stains, but water is usually a good first resort.)

Hanging suits up; giving them plenty of room in the cupboard; hanging your ties and folding your knitwear. It’s not too much to say that 90% of looking after clothes is just daily good practice.

Stick with it, and feel smug later.

Image: Zachary Jobé

  
The Edward Green pop-up sale is always a popular one – in fact a reader asked me last week when it was going to be on. 

I can’t reveal the dates until they are public unfortunately, but they now are. The sale will be held at the Truman Brewery, 8 Dray Walk (just off Brick Lane) from this Thursday.  

Times are 11am-7pm, Thursday to Saturday, and 11am-4pm on Sunday. Enjoy!

Pictured, the new Edward Green Duke loafer, which was launched at Pitti in June. Lovely, but unfortunately not in the sale…

Simon Cundey of Henry Poole (third from left) with the Poole apprentices receiving their certificates: James Weir, Aiden Traynor and Charlie Sweeney

  
Last week was the summer party of the Bespoke Tailors Benevolent Association, which is always a nice affair. 

There’s a mix of cutters, coatmakers and cloth merchants, as well as the friends and family of apprentices receiving their Savile Row Bespoke certificates. 

This is not Pitti; there are no peacocks. Many people are in bespoke tailoring, but often without other bespoke or sartorial elements. It is relaxed and it is very social – more like a village fete than an tailoring event. 

Congratulations to all the apprentices that were awarded on the night; it’s fantastic to see so much young blood still coming into tailoring. And many thanks to Claire Barrett of Hawthorne & Heaney for her usual organisational prowess.
    

The presenters: Pierre LeGrange of Huntsman, Cameron Buchnan the current chairman of the BTBA, Sue Thomas from SRB, and Philip Parker of Henry Poole

Dario Carnera of Huntsman

Dan McAngus of Graham Browne and Davide Taub of Gieves and Hawkes

Claire Barrett of Hawthorne & Heaney and and Kathryn Sargent

Oliver Spencer of Anderson and Sheppard

Chris Bull, Dionne Reeves, Vivenne Wang and Rebecca Mahoney of Huntsman

Me, and Tommaso Capozzoli of Stefano Bemer

Pat Bunting of Dormeuil, Pat Murphy of Davies & Son, and Geoff Wheeler of Dugdales

Mr and Mrs Robert Bright of the BTBA

 
UPDATE: A few people have asked for contact details to make appointments. The event is being hosted by The Armoury – it’s ambrosi.napoli@gmail.com and zacharyjobe@me.com. (Zach is taking appointments and measurements for Saint Crispin’s.)  

I got to know Salvatore Ambrosi a lot better in Beijing earlier in the year, when we were both at the Brio store for events. He had a strong response among customers there, which was good to see – including the odd customer ordering a full wardrobe of trousers, which we know is often what keeps bespoke makers going.

I admire Salva’s work ethic. He was coming off three weeks of travel around Asia when we met in China, and it was starting to show. Being away for that long is never easy – even if you’re effectively visiting friends.

More importantly, Salva is also trying to improve what he does. His reputation took some big knocks early on, with deliveries often late, but he seems to have learnt from that and got better. (My first order was perfectly timed, although that doesn’t mean everything was right – more of that on another, more detailed post.)
  

  
I’ve met enough second-generation Italian artisans, taking over a business their father created, to know that Salva’s work ethic is not the norm. He reminds me of Elia Caliendo in that way, who if anything is taking the quality and ambition of the business to another level than his father’s generation. 

It’s also an Italian thing, and particularly a Neapolitan thing. I can say that because Italians say Italians they’re bad, and Neapolitans say Neapolitans are the worst. 
  

  
Ambrosi trousers are expensive, starting at £800. But believe it or not I think that’s cheap for what they are. A good bespoke suit (say £4000) will effectively cost £1000 for the trousers. It’s one reason that good RTW or MTM trouser options, such as those at the Anderson & Sheppard haberdashery, are often so popular.

None of those trousers will be made with as many hand details as Ambrosi ones either. Those details are, admittedly, largely decorative – no trousers need quite that many tack stitches, no matter how hard you wear them. But as with many things – like Cifonelli suits or D’Avino shirts – it’s about buying the finest of the genre.

Salva is in London for a trunk show at the end of this month – July 31 from 11am-7pm, and August 1 from 11am-6pm. He will be at the Drake’s Harberdasher Street location, below the factory in east London. (As will Saint Crispin’s, represented by Zach Jobé of the Armoury.)

Pictured at the Sciamat stand at Pitti Uomo earlier in the year. Wearing flannel trousers from Edward Sexton, grey shirt from Luca Avitabile and burgundy silk tie from Loro Piana
 

**
UPDATE
Polo sold out: White S, XL; Navy XL; Green M, XL; Light blue XL; Grey XL
Shirt sold out: All S; Navy XL  
**

Over the past few months I’ve been working with shirtmarker Luca Avitabile and Caccioppoli on a range of ready-to-wear long-sleeved polo shirts. We’ve now completed work on them and they will go into full production in September. 

However, I have 50 final, perfected samples available now if readers would like to get a jump on everybody else.

The polos are available across five colours, four sizes and two styles (buttoning halfway, and buttoning all the way through like a shirt). As a result, there are only 1-3 available in each combination. So get in now if you have a particular size and colour you want.  

We have no smalls in the button-through style, but otherwise all sizes have at least one available. I’ll post an update at the top of this post when different styles, colours and sizes sell out.

You can see the five colours here: white, navy, grey, blue and racing green. My particular favourites are the navy, as worn above, and racing green – which is just the right shade for a navy jacket. The mother-of-pearl buttons also look really nice against the white. 

The polos cost £145, with orders made through me – simon@simoncrompton.co.uk 
  

 
More details:

• My key aim was a polo that worked well under tailoring
• They are designed to be tucked in and so cut long, with tails like a shirt. This way they do not come out of the trousers and have a cleaner finish through the waist
• They are made with a collar stand, in order to stand up and roll around a jacket collar, but also have rubber collarbones in case you want the collar to not roll and remain stiff
• The material, from Caccioppoli, is one of the most important aspects. Previously I have had bespoke ones in both winter and summer weights, and neither have been quite right. The summer ones lack body and can be too transparent; the winter ones are too heavy to wear in the summer. This fabric is not only a beautiful quality, but is a mid-weight that (in England) could be worn three seasons of the year. On its own in summer, or in Spring or Autumn with a shawl-collar sweater over the top 
    

 
I wear a medium, and have a 38-inch chest and 15-inch neck. The measurements for all the sizes are (in centimetres):

             Chest      Waist         Yoke        Sleeve         Body

• Payment is through me using bank transfer in the UK or PayPal elsewhere
• Shipping is £8 in Europe and £14 elsewhere
• I’m happy to accept returns, but can’t pay return postage
• Any other questions please let me know

   

**
UPDATE: Only one half-button style left! It’s a large white – who wants it?
(Several button-throughs remaining, although no navy in medium or large any more)
** 

Many thanks to everyone for their support with our Friday Polo project. Orders started coming in on Saturday evening and haven’t stopped. We have sold out of almost all the half-buttoning polo shirts now, the remaining stock being:

• White, large (1)
• Grey, small (2), medium (1)
• Blue, small (1)

I feel I should say a little something in support of the grey colour, as it’s one of my favourites (probably second, after green). I’ve worn one the past two months and it works very well – creating a non-corporate look akin to my grey Abbarchi shirt when worn with a jacket.

We also have a good number of the button-through styles: no smalls, and white only in extra-large, but otherwise everything.

I have a button-through in navy and find it particularly good with more formal outfits, as it is less obviously different to a normal shirt. The difference is in the texture, rather than the placket stopping halfway, which is what you tend to notice first on a polo shirt (when worn under a jacket). I wear my navy with my cashmere jacket from Solito.

Finally, I’m happy to take pre-orders from anyone that would like to make sure they don’t miss out with the full production in September. Although there will be more pieces then, the way these have gone they might not last long. Just email me on the normal address stating the style and size. 

Thanks again to all. Orders will be sent out later this week.

  
A few weeks ago a reader asked about tips on having a suit altered. As often happens, this came up in the comments to a post – some of the best information is in there!

I always recommend having a suit altered of course, if you have bought it off the rack. A couple of small changes to the waist of the jacket or line of the trousers can make a huge difference to the overall look. 

In this hugely popular post from 2009 I went through how to buy a suit if you intend to have it altered, and then some possible alterations. Today, I want to run through some top tips on the process. Please add your own in the comments if I don’t cover them. 

1. Avoid cutting the buttonholes

The buttonholes on a sleeve are one of the biggest barriers to having a suit altered. If they are working buttonholes – so the cloth has been cut to allow the button through – then the sleeve can only be shortened or lengthened so much before it starts to look silly. The buttons either get too close to the end of the sleeve or too far away from it.

This is why bespoke tailors, particularly Anderson & Sheppard, usually only had two of the buttonholes working. It meant you could alter the sleeve if you handed the jacket down to your son or nephew. Of course, you can alter the sleeve from the shoulder as well, but this is more expensive, harder (easier for a poor tailor to mess up), and impossible on checked jackets. 

So when you’re buying a suit to be altered, check whether all the buttonholes have been cut. Ideally, one or two of them won’t have been. And if there’s any chance of the suit being handed on, then leave one or two of them uncut. 

2. Bring in things you like

Having a suit altered is almost as difficult as commissioning a bespoke suit in terms of style. How narrow do you want the trousers? How short do you want the sleeves? 

An easy way to guide the tailor is to bring in a jacket you like the style of. They will get a good idea of the required measurements that way, or even why you think the sleeves are narrow, but aren’t that much. Perhaps the lapels seem too broad to you, but it’s more a question of the narrowness of the shoulder.

Another good idea is just to remember the measurements you like, in numbers or short hand. I know the sleeves of a jacket should always stop at my wrist, for example, while the shirt stops at the base of my thumb. And my trouser measures are 1815 – 18-inch knee and 15-inch bottom. Not a difficult date to remember if you like your history.

3. Remember which brands have good inlay 

If you’re going to make any part of a suit bigger, you require inlay – the excess material on the inside of seams that allows them to be expanded. 

The amount of inlay varies surprisingly between suit brands. There’s no end to the ways brands will cut costs if they can, and getting rid of inlay is one of them. You wouldn’t think it saves any money, but on thousands of suits it does.

There’s no easy way to check for the amount of inlay, but if you have one suit altered and the inlay is good, remember it. (And if anyone has come across brands that had very poor inlay, please let us know.)

4. Don’t do too much  

Losing weight and having suits altered is great. It will make you look better as well as feel better. But don’t do too much.

You can usually take four inches out of the waist of a jacket before it starts to fundamentally alter the look. Ideally it shouldn’t be more than two or three, but it will vary with styles. 

When considering how much the look of the jacket is being changed, run your eye up and down the side of the jacket – from shoulder, through waist, to the bottom of the skirt. That should be a smooth and elegantly flowing line. Get too much altered – or a too-sharp nip of the waist – and the line is ruined. 

5. Alter the waist and the legs, not the shoulders and the waist

A reader mentioned this point on the previous post, but it bears repeating. When you have a choice between a pair of trousers that fits on the waist or one that fits on the legs, go for the former. (Equally, pick a jacket that fits on the shoulders rather than the jacket waist.)

Think about what is easiest to change. The waist of a pair of trousers is a lot more complicated than the legs. There are curved seams, there is lining, there are pockets that could look weird. Legs are just one long seam. 

Pictured: Hardy Amies ‘Signature’ bespoke jacket and trousers being fitted. Cutter Will Adams behind. More on the service when it re-starts later in the year

  
A reader asked earlier in the week when the Drake’s factory sale was. The answer is, Thursday! 

The sale is being held at the Haberdasher Street location, from Thursday to Saturday. Opens at 10am Thursday. Also featuring Mackintosh. See you there…

 
Finally, wonderfully, the book on luxury craft I began writing three years ago is coming out: The Finest Menswear in the World.

It will be published by Thames & Hudson on September 14th. A hardcover, coffee-table book of some 200-odd pages, it is chock full of beautiful imagery from Andy Barnham and some rather in-depth writing from me.

Each of the 14 chapters runs through the aspects of an item of menswear that make it perhaps the finest in the world. So it explains the benefits in cut of a bespoke suit; then the benefits in make of a bespoke suit; it explains how styles vary between houses; and then that Cifonelli has all of those, plus perhaps the finest finishing and greatest creativity.

Brent Black makes some of the finest panama hats in the world because he hires the best weavers and doesn’t let them work for anyone else. Loro Piana makes among the best knitwear because of its quality control and often access to exclusive materials. Begg has an intrinsic advantage in focusing just on scarves. 
 

 
Some of these points are necessarily subjective; often you are picking among pretty similar, high-end makers. But these distinctions are always clearly highlighted. And by running through all the objective points (a slip stitch on a tie; a hand-attached collar on a shirt), it educates the reader, helping them to make discerning choices wherever they buy.

Most books with a brand per chapter are little more than PR puff. They tell the story of the company and explain what they do, but there is no context, no relative analysis. There is a great deal more to The Finest Menswear in the World, its methodology and its writing. I think – I hope – that this separates it from anything that has come before.

There will a pre-order option open to readers soon, with a discount and signed copies.  
 

  
The full list is:

• Anderson & Sheppard (sports jackets)
• Begg & Co (scarves)
• Brent Black (panama hats)
• Bresciani (socks)
• Cifonelli (suits)
• Cleverley (shoes)
• Drake’s (ties) 
• Dunhill (bags)
• Kapital (jeans)
• Kiton (shirts)
• Loro Piana (knitwear)
• Talarico (umbrellas)
• Zilli (leather jackets)
• Zimmerli (underwear)

(Note: given the international nature of the distribution, we tried to include brands that were available around the world. So it’s an advantage to Cifonelli and A&S that they travel, and we picked someone like Kiton over the purely bespoke shirtmakers who are usually very small. Price and value was also not a factor.)

 
At the BTBA party last month I wanted to try wearing my tobacco-linen jacket separately. It is part of a suit of course, but it was commissioned from Sastreria Langa in Madrid with a ‘shirt’ sleeve and patch pockets to make it casual enough to wear on its own.

So first thing picked: the jacket. Next, on to the trousers. Although the linen (from Scabal) is a strong colour it is also a mid-tone, neither that light or that dark. As a result, it requires trousers that are rather light or dark, to achieve enough contrast. Linen was also discounted: as in most situations, the same material would have looked odd as both odd jacket and odd trouser.

I tried tan cotton, pale-grey fresco and cream gabardine. The latter two both worked (tan was too similar in tone) but cream gabardine was selected purely on the basis that these lovely Anderson & Sheppard trousers don’t get worn very much. Gabardine is pretty formal, cream particularly, and so they rarely get worn to the office.  
 

  
Blue shirt (white hard to differentiate from the trousers); cream socks (always match the trousers be default – and this didn’t need any more colour); tan Stefano Bemer oxfords (the default for cream trousers unless you like spectators, which I don’t).

There were far more options with the tie, but this fresh green worked particularly nicely with the tobacco colour of the jacket and the outside, summer setting. The printed tie is also wool (from Shibumi) which helps keep everything casual. (Printed silk can work with an odd jacket, but you have to work hard to avoid it looking too formal.)

The yellow silk handkerchief, from Rubinacci, performed a supporting role despite its relatively strong colour. Another silk would have competed too much with the jacket and tie, making the whole outfit too colourful and a little top-heavy. This yellow, with some cream in the pattern, feels like it is echoing the trousers rather than trying to make its own statement. 
  

  
I have the opposite opinion of boutonnieres: they can be much stronger or unusual in colour because of their usually small size. Here I chose a simple white flower, but a pink or purple might have worked where it would have been too much as a handkerchief. More on that in another post.

Overall, a relatively simple outfit, but a satisfying match to the event and use of the tobacco linen. 

(Incidentally, I’ve had a few problems with the Langa suit – the shoulders are still off and will need to be re-made by Graham Browne, and the pockets have shown to be fused, making them pucker. The colour is still wonderful, but I haven’t been that impressed with how it has worn.)
  

 
There was a nice piece on me in Italian magazine Fashion last week. These interviews are usually fairly repetitive, but I did have a chance in this one to mention my love of Charlie Mingus, and how proud I am that my grandfather reads everything I ever write. Nice personal touches. 

(It’s in Italian, by the way. Google Translate tells me there’s nothing inaccurate, but Italian readers, do tell me if that’s wrong!)

  
I’m a big fan of vintage leather goods. There’s nothing like a real, century-old patina on alligator or bridle leather; plus silver or brass hardware that you can let tarnish or keep polished and shiny. 

Over the years I have bought a Louis Vuitton Alzer briefcase, a crocodile suitcase, and an innovative fold-up portfolio. My favourite, however, is probably my first purchase – this alligator cigar case. 

It is my favourite for two main reasons: because it was the first, and because it gets used more than any of the others. The Alzer is pretty heavy (blame the brass and all those nails) and the suitcase can really only travel by car. This cigar case, on the other hand, perfectly fits an iPhone 4 or iPhone 5. For the past five years, I have had one then the other. 

The iPhone 5 is of course thinner than the iPhone 4, but the silver collar is flexible enough to be bent a touch inwards or outwards to hold whatever it contains. And as the other half slips inside, it can accommodate a wide variety of heights.

Given how much I use my phone, the thing is taken apart and put together again repeatedly. But when all I have to carry is that phone and perhaps a credit card, it becomes effectively the smallest (and perhaps most beautiful) day bag in the world.  
  

  
The case itself is made of alligator with (unusually) red stitching around the outside. It would have been used for cheroots and smaller cigars, popular around the turn of the last century.

The stamp and hallmarks allow us to get a pretty good of idea of when it was made and by whom. The ‘LB’ is probably the retail stamp of the maker; on the right-hand side there is also a diamond with three ‘Bs’ in it, which would have been his hallmark. If they had been the customer’s initials, they would likely have been engraved rather than stamped.

Looking up the LB, including the serif style and the position of the period, it appears to have been made by Louis Bloomfield, a maker who was linked to cigar importers Hunters & Frankau (they had the exclusive right to import Cuban cigars for a period).

The other hallmarks are an anchor (assayed in Birmingham), a lion (sterling silver) and, between them, a letter indicating the date. Unfortunately this letter has been worn away, but the shape of the anchor and lion narrows down the period to 1890-1899. (The designs of the hallmarks were changed every time the letters had to begin at the beginning of the alphabet again, and the square shape of the border narrows down the letters.)

  
This case is from Bentleys, the fantastic London shop run by Tim Bent. They have recently moved, from Walton Street (which is becoming, like so much of London, just another parade of women’s designed brands) to Lower Sloane Street. When I was in this week they were still putting the finishing touches to the new store, but it should be open soon.

Of course, being in London Bentleys is expensive (a case like this would be £400). But I’ve always preferred to shop there with Tim, Julian and the team because the selection is so good. I’ve done my time hiking around regional antiques stores and there’s normally at least one thing I like, but it’s not quite right (usually damaged).  

With that relationship comes great service. It was only this week that I thought to bring in this case and have Tim look up the hallmarks. And I know if anything ever went wrong with my suitcase or anything else, he’d always give free advice, and recommend a great repairs service.
 

  
It’s probably worth saying this once more. These images are merely indicative. They are intended to give a general impression of the shirt (a lovely grey from Simone Abbarchi). They are not intended to be the basis of an assessment of the fit.

There. Got that off my chest. So, how did my first commission from Florentine shirtmaker Simone Abbarchi turn out? Not bad, overall. Probably a worse fit on the body than most other makers I have tried, but only just and the collar is spot on.

I’ve said before that the collar is the most important part of the shirt, and it’s true. It’s particularly important for men that wear jackets a lot, but even for those that don’t, the body of a shirt is never going to flatter you like a tailored jacket. If you aim for that, you’ll have the shirt cut too tight, and you’ll start popping the buttons when you sit down.
    

  
Look to the collar first. The fit through the waist can also be nice. The sleeve length should be bang on. And it’s nice when the slope of the shoulders is correct, so that the chest of the shirt is relatively clean.  

If you have sloping shoulders like me, and are therefore used to ready-made shirts bunching around the sides of the chest, correct shoulders are a lovely thing. And to be fair, this is one thing Simone got right. (The best I’ve ever had was Mariano at Sastreria Langa in Madrid, but the collar was horrible.)

The places where Simone’s fit let it down are across the shoulders, and through the waist. The former are too tight, particularly after washing, and the waist is a chunk too big. The shoulder isn’t uncomfortable, and the waist isn’t bad, but neither are as good as you should expect from bespoke (or made-to-measure for that matter).
 

  
Simone does both – bespoke and MTM – but with no handwork at all in the making. This makes him quite cheap, starting at €150 for bespoke and €120 for MTM. And despite that lack of handwork, the finishing was good – indeed, the initials I have just above the hem at the front were probably finer than any other maker.

I had some adjustments made to the pattern in Florence, and should have a new shirt in a couple of weeks. If I had paid £200 for the shirt, I might have been a little disappointed with the fit. But at £100 it’s OK, only because it’s worth working a little more to get a good pattern that can be used for subsequent £100 orders. That will be good value.

(A reader asked on the last post how high the collar was, by the way. The best way to assess this is to measure the height of the collar stand at the back – Xcm here. Of course, the width will likely vary from back to front, but this is the best starting point. And remember, the collar should always be in proportion to the length of your neck. Mine is relatively long.)
  

  
Four things contribute most to the formality of an outfit: shine, darkness, contrast and desaturation.

We see all four of them in formal outfits such as black tie. Dark black or midnight blue is contrasted against stark white. There is virtually no colour – perhaps just a dash in the handkerchief or boutonniere – and there is shine in the grosgrain silk, the shine of the shoes.

Navy is the more common starting point for formality in a lounge suit. When considering what to wear for our Tailoring Symposium last month, therefore, navy was the first thing on my mind.

It was a hot night in Florence, and a double-breasted jacket would be more formal than single. So my navy hopsack double-breasted jacket, from Elia Caliendo, fitted the bill.
  

  
Next, the trousers. Grey would have been the formal default (plain, lack of colour, enough contrast with jacket and shoes). But I was keen to try my silk/linen brown trousers from Panta Clothing. They are very light and the silk gives them a slight sheen, which suggests a touch of formality. I’d consider how to get enough contrast with the shoes (see recent post on Caraceni) later.

For shirt, tie and handkerchief, the default formal option would always be a white shirt, plain dark tie, and white hank. This achieves the desired elements of darkness, contrast and desaturation. This is why wearing a white shirt in the evening is, for some men, a useful rule of thumb; it usually makes any outfit more formal.

But the top half would have been dull if it was just plain navy and white. It might also have looked detached from the trousers. So I substituted the shirt for a pale grey. That retained the lack of colour, sacrificed a little of the contrast, and injected a touch of personality.
  

  
In looking at the top half, above, note how much more formal the bright-white handkerchief and silk navy tie make it. A silk with more texture (eg grenadine), or with less shine (eg wool or linen) would have been much less formal. Equally a handkerchief that provided less unbroken contrast.

The shoes are brown-suede Belgian loafers from Rubinacci. I know some people dislike the sockless look, but I like it and my God it’s cool. They also created just enough contrast between shoes and trousers, due to the textures of suede vs silk/linen, and the black bow and piping on the shoes.

Also good here would have been the suede and velvet slippers Gaziano & Girling are producing at the moment. They have soles and heels that are a touch thicker than normal cemented shoes, making them much more practical than other slippers (including, I admit, these Rubi ones).

Tie from Drake’s, shirt from Luca Avitabile. For those in New York, Luca and Luigi Solito will be there in September – the 16th to the 18th, at HMS International Fabrics (730 5th Ave, suite 502). Contact info@lucavitabile.it and sartoriasolitonapoli@gmail.com.
  

    
A little preview of our next collaboration here: a beautiful tan tote bag, made in the Globe-Trotter factory in Broxbourne, Hertfordshire. 

The veg-tanned bag is made, unusually, from a single piece of leather wrapped around the bottom. Most consumers wouldn’t notice is there was a seam running along the underside of the bag. But I know you guys will appreciate it.